Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corporation, is set to be deposed on Monday as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The case accuses Fox News of amplifying false claims that Dominion Voting Systems’ rigged machines led to Donald J. Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election. This lawsuit has escalated into a contentious dispute between Dominion and Fox News, with both parties going back and forth in Delaware state court over witnesses, evidence, and testimony.
Dominion’s lawsuit claims that Fox News intentionally misled its audience and helped to spread one of the most pervasive lies in American politics. Although the law favors the media in defamation cases, independent observers have said that Dominion has an unusually strong case. Fox hosts and guests repeated untrue stories about Dominion’s ties to communist regimes and far-fetched theories about how its software enabled enemies of the former president to steal his votes.
The case will be a judgment on whether the most powerful conservative media outlet intentionally misled its audience. Dominion hopes to prove that people inside the network knew they were disseminating lies, while Fox hopes to sow doubt about that by showing how its hosts pressed Trump allies for evidence they never produced and that Dominion machines were vulnerable to hacking, even if no hacking took place.
The judge, Eric M. Davis, has ruled in Dominion’s favor in most instances, allowing the voting company to expand the pool of potential evidence it can present to a jury. This includes text messages from personal phones of Fox employees and the employment contracts of star hosts such as Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. Dominion has conducted dozens of depositions with current and former network personalities, producers, business managers, and executives.
Fox News has a history of settling sensitive lawsuits before they reach a jury. However, a settlement with Dominion appears to be a remote possibility at this point. Fox has said that the broad protections provided to the media under the First Amendment shield it from liability. The network says it was merely reporting on Mr. Trump’s accusations, which are protected speech even if the president is lying. Dominion’s complaint outlines examples in which Fox hosts did more than just report those false claims; they endorsed them.
The judge has set a trial date for April of next year. Fox executives and its lawyers believe they can prevail because Dominion must convince a jury that Fox acted with “actual malice.” This means that people inside the network knew that what they were reporting was false but did so anyway, or that they recklessly disregarded information showing what they were reporting was wrong. Fox’s lawyers are also planning lines of defense that they hope will dent Dominion’s credibility, even if that means leaning into some of the Conspiracy theories that are at the heart of Dominion’s case.
In conclusion, the defamation lawsuit against Fox News has progressed unexpectedly fast, with Lachlan Murdoch, the most senior corporate figure within the Fox media empire, being deposed on Monday. The high stakes of the case will render a judgment on whether the most powerful conservative media outlet in the country intentionally misled its audience and helped seed one of the most pervasive lies in American politics. Dominion has an unusually strong case, and Fox hopes to sow doubt by showing how its hosts pressed Trump allies for evidence they never produced and that Dominion machines were vulnerable to hacking, even if no hacking took place. The judge has set a trial date for April of next year, and a settlement with Dominion appears to be a remote possibility at this point.
Original Story at www.nytimes.com – 2022-12-04 08:00:00
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